I should cancel, right?

Just got off our first ever cruise - the Dream - and then 3 days in the parks. Must have been Disney euphoria but we put a deposit on DVC 175 point membership, mostly because I wanted to use points for future cruises. Immediately after getting back to my (Little Mermaid standard Art of Animation) room and reading Disboards I thought, uh-oh, we did the wrong thing. First trip to the parks with the kids was May 2011 and we stayed at All Star Music. This was the second. They are 8 and 6 and, no, their college is not paid for. We may or may not come to the parks every year and, if we do, I am perfectly content to stay in a value room...not that I don't like that big, beautiful one bedroom villa but I'd rather spend the money on the kids in the park or at the gift shops. Tried to tell my "guide" I wanted out before the final papers arrive at my house but he wants me to cool my heels for a couple days. After reading through these boards and others I'm thinking:

1. I should not count on using DVC points for cruises
2. I should not buy direct from DVC and pay a fortune when points can be had at resale much cheaper (but cannot be used on DCL)
3. I should not finance this purchase at all...even if my sales guy wants me to drop my contract down to the minimum 100 points.
4. I should cancel the whole deal.

Am I right? Will I regret not buying in after I've spent thousands in the next two years on a cruise and maybe another visit to the parks?

I think you should probably cancel the direct purchase and consider resale. First, while the directly purchased points can currently be used for cruises, that is a perk and not guaranteed. Disney can eliminate that at any time for everyone. Plus the points for cruises are no fixed and can go up every year.

In terms of finance, I am not one that says you can't. Does it add to the cost of buying? Sure and should be part of hr equation, but if you are continuing to go to Disney and pay cash rates, even with a discount, year after year, the to me, I don't necessarily think financing is a no no. We looked at things when we bought in terms f what I was paying for our cash room and what my DVC payments would be. If buying, even with finance, was no more than what I'd continue to pay for my yearly trips--which I was not willing to give up, then we were fine, especially since I was getting bigger rooms. But, given the difference in cost, you may be able to start small and pay cash and go from there

OP, please cancel. You listed all of your own reasons. Take time to think through this. No one should be making a major financial decision while on a cruise. After giving this a lot more thought, you can always contact them again to buy. Or better yet, if you choose to buy, save half your money and buy Resale. Good luck!

Yes, you are right for a variety of reasons. But the biggest reason is that, in a real estate transaction like this, if you have even the SLIGHTEST doubt, the best advice anyone could give you is to rescind (cancel). That's why the State of Florida has a 10-day recision period -- to protect the consumer.

You can sort out the questions of how many points, resale or direct, financing or not, etc during your research phase. But if you are not absolutely positive you did the best possible thing -- rescind now.

Now that you have discovered DVC and the DIS, take your time and do your research at your leisure. And do it very carefully...with the pressure off.

You won't use the points on a cruise because 175 points even doubled up wouldn't pay for the cruise. Do you really want to pay monthly for years that you use once or twice a year. With the vacation club your buying the dining plan each stay along with park passes. So no more great deals with free dining or park passes. The timeshare store has awesome deals on points though. What Disney charges roughly $135 is $65 at the timeshare store

I am a dvc member it costs me $940 a year in dues for maintenance. I go a few times a year it stills costs thousands just in dining tickets plane fare and spending money

I love it I do but make sure you want to make that commitment. The dues kill me and I didn't finance my dvc.

Well, it seems like I am in the minority,but I wouldn't cancel- here's my too long but WAY abbreviated story-

We own an amazing , paid off timeshare in cancun, on we would trade easily and stay off property for about 150 per week, with dues etc got 4 6night trips yearly for 1600.
When we wanted "magic" we stayed at all stars but found them small, noisy and crowded so that was rare.
So,when we toured DVC in 2000 on our honeymoon even the Disney fanatic in me said"no way! We can do it so much cheaper"
And we passed, much to my current regret.

Kept doing the above and didn't even think about DVC again until last year. Here's why-
In 2011 my dad was very ( we feared terminally) ill with a rare blood clot in his brain ( miraculously well now, PTL!!) so u decided for Christmas that we would take my "don't care about Disney" brother, his "never been to Disney" wife,and their "didn't know what he was missing" DS18months along with mom and dad and my family. I wanted everything to be easy and magical so we decided to stay on property at Coronado Springs. my parents and i had tickets, but i bought my brothers. We got a good deal ( I think)on DDP and 3 nice rooms for about 3k. It was the best family trip we'd been on ( we do the beach yearly) and one of my top Disney trips. So-decided to go with grandmother and my 3 kids Feb. 2012. But no DH so to ease the hassle factor booked contemporary for the first time ever (2700 4 nights room and DDP). It was so amazing that by the end of the trip I called DH and said we need to buy DVC!!!
Financially,we are tight. DH and I have lost out jobs alternately, and DS8 is an amazing but expensive kid with special needs. We have always loved Disney (honeymoon!) but only after we discovered that WDW was hugely therapeutic to DS8 did we start going so often and now have (drastically discounted - thanks DVC!) PAPs.
DS8, DS6, DD3 do not have college paid for, we have no retirement- no debt except house.
So, we bought DVC on a Disney "high" in March 2012 and I almost immediately got cold feet- talked about canceling- we financed, and taking on that debt scared me!!
But, we realized that we would always use Disney long after our kids quit being enthralled-
Whether for ABD or DCL.
And- we have now gone on 5 trips on points, are planning another huge, awesome family trip at BLT in May- got to take my mom and grandmother to $500/night hotels that I never could have done otherwise etc.
Averaging 3k for the trips we've done and have planned this year, DVC has already "paid for itself"
Realistically though, we wouldn't have spent 3K per trip (just out original $400 pet trip) so it is not a good financial decision. It was however for our family a very good decision for the intangibles and I now regret not doing it sooner. Using the Disney "high" to get me over my cold feet and into a decision I love but probably wouldn't have made is why I recommend seeing if you can afford it, then doing it now.
We have BLT from Disney, SSR (cheaper) from Disney so I feel a little protected from future changes , but we also have SSR resale to boost our points. I would recommend minimum direct points and add on via resale.
As for DCL- we plan on getting the best price with OBB, TA for OBC then rent point and pay cash- much cheaper than using pints directly and you can convert resale points to cruises that way too!
HTH- I know I'm in the minority, but I encourage everyone who likes nice vacations and can afford it to do it because it is so amazing even if sometimes the numbers don't add up right to say do it-and now is cheaper than later.

Just got off our first ever cruise - the Dream - and then 3 days in the parks. Must have been Disney euphoria but we put a deposit on DVC 175 point membership, mostly because I wanted to use points for future cruises. Immediately after getting back to my (Little Mermaid standard Art of Animation) room and reading Disboards I thought, uh-oh, we did the wrong thing. First trip to the parks with the kids was May 2011 and we stayed at All Star Music. This was the second. They are 8 and 6 and, no, their college is not paid for. We may or may not come to the parks every year and, if we do, I am perfectly content to stay in a value room...not that I don't like that big, beautiful one bedroom villa but I'd rather spend the money on the kids in the park or at the gift shops. Tried to tell my "guide" I wanted out before the final papers arrive at my house but he wants me to cool my heels for a couple days. After reading through these boards and others I'm thinking:

1. I should not count on using DVC points for cruises
2. I should not buy direct from DVC and pay a fortune when points can be had at resale much cheaper (but cannot be used on DCL)
3. I should not finance this purchase at all...even if my sales guy wants me to drop my contract down to the minimum 100 points.
4. I should cancel the whole deal.

Am I right? Will I regret not buying in after I've spent thousands in the next two years on a cruise and maybe another visit to the parks?

Opinions please. Oh, I know I'll get 'em

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Cancel for now and decide when and if the time is right for you. You should do it at a time when it makes you happy. If you have a bad feeling, it's not really disney magic, is it?

We actually purchased into AKL while on the Dream about a year ago. Yes, making major financial decisions on a cruise is not a good idea. However, we had been looking at DVC for some time prior to the cruise and have been taking Disney vacations for a few years, so we certainly don't regret buying into DVC, we will just make our next purchase off the resale market.

Curious, which resort did you buy into and what type of incentives did they give you?

Tried to tell my "guide" I wanted out before the final papers arrive at my house but he wants me to cool my heels for a couple days.

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Interesting. He wants you to buy in the heat of the moment, but he thinks you should let cooler heads prevail when it comes to canceling. A bit duplicitous, no? Be very careful, those "couple days" may in fact take you past the 10 day recision period.

As for whether or not you should cancel, the answer is yes. My reason...because you asked the question. If you're not confident in your decision then it was probably the wrong decision. Good luck, please come back and let us know what you decide.

Thanks all for your replies. We did not actually buy while on the cruise. It was at the after-cruise WDW stay that we toured DVC but it was definitely while still on a Disney high.

Rescinding in a couple days won't matter. The transaction was this past Wednesday so we are well within the 10 day period and we didn't close on the spot. They are sending us closing paperwork which I had to swear to FedEx back to them in 24 hours.

Audrey, it sounds like a wonderful value for your family. And the salesman really pounded home that "bring-the-family-and-friends-with-you" idea, telling us we'd have to beat our friends off at the door. However, that's not our world. None of our siblings are married or have children and they are all 40ish so it probably ain't gonna happen. My parents have long ago given up travel as "seen one rock, seen them all" and they are not the typical doting grandparents. They love the kids (their only grandchildren) but they have no interest on going on vacation with us or anyone else. In fact, this trip was "wasted money" according to my mother so there you go. And my very conservative in-laws would drive my husband nuts on his vacation so we wouldn't ask them. LOL! We are pretty much an island unto ourselves. We have friends but none that we've ever vacationed with.

Guide wants us to drop down to 100 points and do the studio but, if I'm buying, I want the one bedroom. If I'm getting a package, I'll do value resort. That might not make sense but it's how I feel. Value resorts are about $100 - $125/night. I know they feed you numbers to make it sound like at DVC I'm spending about $80/night but I can't get past the interest and the maintenance fees. $1,000 in maintenance fees per year is like paying for a week in a value resort room and we NEVER stay a whole week. Our average stay is 4 nights.

They offered us AKL at 175 points at $140/pt and I think there was $5 off per point and $500 gift card. Like I said, I don't have the paperwork so I'm not 100% sure about the $5/pt discount. I do know the guide keeps pushing at least 100 points for $14,000.

I've worked at timeshare before and could never, ever see the value in it. I like the Disney point system vs the week system, though, and I was really more interested in using it for cruises, but I'm finding it's really set up for park accommodations. Plus, you do still have to pay all the extras like airline, passes, dining, etc. I understand all that. And boy can they work the numbers. Tell him you will do a park visit later this year and a cruise next year and he suddenly tells you that's a $7,000 commitment which pays for 1/2 my membership already! Really? Yeah, but the actual room is only about $650, not including cruise cost. Plus, using the points, the very cruise we were looking at comes out about $1,000 more in point value than paying with cash. Definitely not a good deal.

I did look into renting points to try the one bedroom. I think it was around $2,000 for 5 nights. Reasonable for the product, I guess, but still not a great bargain for just a room. IF I do some cooking and laundry there, then maybe we'll save a bit. We've never even bought the dining plan because of how little my kids eat right now. Lots of food goes to waste.

Anyway, thanks all for your input. I for sure am going to rescind and look into resale if we become interested in the future. BTW, sales guy says points are going up in March to $165.

You will have no problem buying that same contract resale now or in a few years for half the price.

Exchanging points for a cruise on a regular basis is a terrible reason to buy DVC and may not even be available down the road. If you really want to do the occassional cruise, I would either pay cash or rent out your points that year and use the cash to pay for the cruise.

They are sending us closing paperwork which I had to swear to FedEx back to them in 24 hours.

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Hmm, I guess it's different when you buy from home vs at the parks. But that still seems a bit iffy to me. The guide seems iffy to me.

FWIW when you buy 100 pts you aren't getting "the studio" and when you get 160 you aren't getting "the one bedroom". Point charts can and do change, there are different seasons (and they are different than the normal Disney resort seasons), and of course different resorts have different points for different rooms. It's very fluid. For US, the fluidity has been good. For others, people who want the same room for the same amount of time every year, it might not be good.

We bought (financed...only decision we, as we were then, could make at that time...stood a high chance of not working out but it has, knock wood) Bay Lake, we have 160 points, and this year our dues are just over $700. So it's not always 1000+ for people; it varies, too, depending on what resort you buy (and of course how many points, but you were talking 160 just like we own).

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other. I don't particularly believe that "if you have doubts it's the wrong decision"; I think that many people have doubts even over terrific, long-thought-out decisions about all sorts of things. But if you don't really know what DVC is, how you would use it, etc, it might be best to make sure you have the pressure-free time to really learn and think about it.

Hmm, I guess it's different when you buy from home vs at the parks. But that still seems a bit iffy to me. The guide seems iffy to me.

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Actually, we were at the park. The salesman said we should "go out and have fun" rather than go through 40 minute closing so he would send the paperwork to our house and we could complete it when we got home.

FWIW when you buy 100 pts you aren't getting "the studio" and when you get 160 you aren't getting "the one bedroom".

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I understand. I was referring to the points required at AKV. Salesguy was saying that 100 points would be enough to book a studio there vs a one bedroom which would require more -- most especially for SV, which he also said is an absolute MUST when he stays there. Without being able to see the animals, "you might as well be at Old Key West," I believe was the actual wording he used.

I think you should probably cancel the direct purchase and consider resale. First, while the directly purchased points can currently be used for cruises, that is a perk and not guaranteed. Disney can eliminate that at any time for everyone. Plus the points for cruises are no fixed and can go up every year.

In terms of finance, I am not one that says you can't. Does it add to the cost of buying? Sure and should be part of hr equation, but if you are continuing to go to Disney and pay cash rates, even with a discount, year after year, the to me, I don't necessarily think financing is a no no. We looked at things when we bought in terms f what I was paying for our cash room and what my DVC payments would be. If buying, even with finance, was no more than what I'd continue to pay for my yearly trips--which I was not willing to give up, then we were fine, especially since I was getting bigger rooms. But, given the difference in cost, you may be able to start small and pay cash and go from there

Good luck!!!

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With all due respect, I feel it is bad advice for OP to even consider buying resale. She stated she likes staying in values. Right there it is enough to not buy direct or resale. Paying for DVC does not make sense against staying in values.

Also, OP even stated she doesn't know if kids will even want to go to Disney more than once, ever.

You won't use the points on a cruise because 175 points even doubled up wouldn't pay for the cruise. Do you really want to pay monthly for years that you use once or twice a year. With the vacation club your buying the dining plan each stay along with park passes. So no more great deals with free dining or park passes. The timeshare store has awesome deals on points though. What Disney charges roughly $135 is $65 at the timeshare store

I am a dvc member it costs me $940 a year in dues for maintenance. I go a few times a year it stills costs thousands just in dining tickets plane fare and spending money

I love it I do but make sure you want to make that commitment. The dues kill me and I didn't finance my dvc.

Good luck. You will make the right decision for you and your family

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Yes-The Timeshare Store ,Fidelity,DVC resale and i think there is 1 more company out there? All reputable to talk to about resale ownership.

With all due respect, I feel it is bad advice for OP to even consider buying resale. She stated she likes staying in values. Right there it is enough to not buy direct or resale. Paying for DVC does not make sense against staying in values.

Also, OP even stated she doesn't know if kids will even want to go to Disney more than once, ever.

RENT!RENT!RENT!

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Not everyone is cut out to rent. When you rent, you have absolutely no control over your reservation at all and that is something you really need to be comfortable with. Personally, I would never rent and prior to owning DVC, never considered it a viable option, no matter how much money it might have saved us.

Right now, you can probably get a 50 point contract for some of the Wdw resorts for less than $4000. With an every other year plan, that could get you a five night trip. Every third year, a few more nights. And, a studio would certainly be on par with a value. So, while I completely agree with you that DVC is certainly not for everyone and if one is satisfied with values, it might not be worth it, but, IMO, there is certainly no harm in advising some to investigate the resale market to see if it might meet there needs.